1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of computer networks, and specifically, to efficient management of resources in a Multi-protocol Over ATM (MPOA) environment.
2. Background Information
The Internet has changed the way people communicate, do business, and obtain information. Corporate entities rely heavily on Internet access and usage for transmitting and receiving electronic mail, providing information to consumers on-line, selling products/services, and the like. A large number of these entities are interconnected with legacy local area networks (LANs) that implement a number of protocols (e.g., Ethernet). Today, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks have emerged as the technology of choice for wide area networks such as the Internet, especially for different types of traffic including voice, data, multimedia, etc. Many new corporate entities have also switched to ATM networks. However, for existing corporate entities that have legacy LANs, it is expensive to transition to ATM networks.
As a result, the ATM Technical Committee has introduced and published a standard entitled Multi-Protocol Over ATM (MPOA) specification, Multi-Protocol Over ATM Version 1.1, AF-MPOA-0114.000, published May 1999 (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cMPOA,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cthe MPOA protocol,xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cthe MPOA specificationxe2x80x9d), the contents of which is fully incorporated herein by reference. MPOA allows entities to take advantage of the bandwidth and scalability of ATM using the legacy LANs. Thus, MPOA allows LANs on different subnetworks to communicate via ATM networks. Although MPOA provides numerous advantages not previously realized, it can be further optimized.
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for dynamically adjusting the aging time of a shortcut virtual circuit connection (VCC) in a Multi-protocol over ATM (MPOA) client. In one embodiment, a method detects a packet flow between a source and a destination, and establishes a shortcut VCC between the source and destination. The aging time of the shortcut VCC is dynamically adjusted in response to one or more of the following factors: the number of VCCs available by the MPOA client, the application type of the packet flow, and the protocol type of the flow. Consequently, the aging time is adjusted to tailor to the current state of the system and the type of flow.